Alejo Muniz and Mick Fanning advance to Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay quarterfinals
The third and fourth heat of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay’s Round 5 went down at the coastline of Jeffreys Bay in South Africa on Saturday, July 23rd.
After a real nail-biting contest, Brazil’s Alejo Muniz managed to prevail over Australia’s Adam Melling in the third heat to advance to the quarter-finals.
The fourth heat saw Australia’s Mick Fanning clinch a convincing victory over French Polynesia’s Michel Bourez to go through to the quarter-finals.
The ideal swell that had been gracing the event site and offering six-to-eight foot waves was beginning to die down by the time the third heat got underway. However, there were still enough juicy waves appearing at the coastline on regular basis to keep
the battle exciting.
The 21-year-old Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour rookie, Muniz, took on the 26-year-old Melling in the third heat. The battle turned out to be a low scoring one, with neither of the surfers managing to execute their technical tricks
cleanly. That still wasn’t able to strip the heat of thrill and excitement and the suspense kept the crowd on the edge of their seats throughout the 30-minute showdown.
As the third heat kicked off, Melling moved into the lead with a 3.83 and 6.33-point wave quite early in the battle. Even though the heat-total of 10.16 could hardly be considered a decent score, it was proving to be sufficient to carry the Australian off
to victory.
However, a late charge by Muniz suddenly reversed the situation. The young Brazilian locked a couple of decent waves in the closing minutes of the heat to score 5.43 and 4.83 points and move to a heat-total of 10.26, edging past his rival to claim victory.
The final heat of Round 5 saw the former two-time ASP World Champion, Fanning, facing French Polynesia’s Bourez for survival.
Bourez got off to an excellent start, locking a wave to score 7.50 points off it and gaining an early lead. However, he was unable to come up with another decent score and only managed to add an additional 2.90 to his score, finishing with a heat-total of
10.40 points.
The 30-year-old Fanning remained patient as he hunted for a good score. Almost halfway through the heat, he caught a wave to earn 7.83 points off it and later performed the coup de grace with an 8.13-point wave to seal the fate of the heat.
The conclusion of the fourth heat marked the completion of Round 5. The event organisers decided to call it a day, putting the quarters, semis and the final on the agenda for Sunday.
For updates on the quarter-finals of Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, stay tuned to bettor.com
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